Pineapples Have Fingerprints, Too

In Hawaii, where growers produce about 215 million pounds of fragrant,
premium pineapples annually, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are uncovering telltale
stretches of pineapples genetic material, or DNA. Then, theyre
using the DNA as genetic fingerprints to tell whos who among
the plants in the nations official collection of pineapples from around
the planet.

The DNA-based fingerprints enable scientists and breeders to discern
the relatedness of pineapples that are candidates for creating superior new
plants for tomorrow. For example, certain pineapple plants might be better able
to resist attack by insects or diseases.

Now, the scientists aim to identify about 1,000 additional, highly
revealing lengths of pineapple DNA. These are needed to even further describe
the scope of pineapples genepool.

The pineapple project is probably the most comprehensive analysis of
pineapple genetics yet reported that used a laboratory procedure known as AFLP.
An article in Agricultural Research magazine, the ARS monthly journal,
tells
more.